Page 2767 - Politics
Pak Election Commission suspends appointment of Amjad Javed as Punjab police chief
In a dramatic development, Pakistan's Election Commission Tuesday suspended the appointment of Amjad Javed Saleemi as the Punjab police chief, hours after the Cabinet Secretariat issued a notification appointing him as the provincial police chief. The Election Commission informed the Establishment Division through a letter that it had suspended the notification as it was a violation of its directives of September 3, banning postings and transfers of government officials ahead of the by-elections scheduled for October 14, Dawn reported. Through the letter, the Election Commission director (elections) has instructed the secretary of the Establishment Division to explain within two days why its directions "have not been complied with", the paper said. Earlier in the day, the Inspector General of Police for Punjab had been changed for a second time in two months, as Saleemi replaced Muhammad Tahir as the provincial police chief, the paper said. The Cabinet Secretariat's notification had ..
J-K admin sets up task force to chalk out strategy on doubling farmers' income
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has set up a high-level task force for deliberating upon the strategy on doubling farmers' income in the state by 2022. The General Administration Department (GAD) has ordered to constitute a task force to come up with a strategy on doubling farmers' income. "Sanction is hereby accorded to the constitution of a high-level task force, comprising seven members to deliberate upon the strategy document," Hilal Ahmed, commissioner to the government, said in an order. The task force will have to prepare an action plan and it should clearly set out the steps to be taken by various departments, Ahmed said.
Funds to Durga puja committees: HC can't interfere in legislative decision, says WB govt
The West Bengal government on Tuesday told the Calcutta High Court that it cannot interfere in a legislative decision on granting funds to Durga Puja committees, after a petitioner claimed that it is a violation of the secular structure of the Constitution. The court extended till Thursday an interim stay on disbursal of Rs 10,000 each to 28,000 puja committees across the state, which was announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last month. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Debasish Kar Gupta and Justice Sampa Sarkar also said it will pass an order on maintainability of the PIL challenging disbursal of funds to puja committees on Wednesday. Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted before the division bench that this is to be used for assisting police under its traffic safety campaign and not for any religious purpose. Dutta said the funds are to be used for assisting police under 'Safe drive save life' campaign of the state government and also for sanitation and ...
Elderly Maoist couple surrender
An elderly couple, veteran members of the banned CPI (Maoist), surrendered before police here Tuesday citing "political differences" and health reasons, police said. K Purushotham alias MK (68) and his wife K Vinodhini, (63), who were arrested in March 1991 only to be released in exchange for release of an abducted Youth Congress leader three months later, carried a cash reward of Rs 8 lakhs and Rs five lakhs. The two were looking after the Agitation Propaganda Committee, a publishing unit of the CPI (Maoist), Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar told reporters. Purushotham was a headmaster of a primary school here before joining the People's War Group 1981 and married Vinodhini, also a teacher, a year later. She also joined the PWG, which later became CPI (Maoist), after marriage and both became underground cadre and recruited around 60 others and sent them to forest for training, the Police Commissioner said. The duo was arrested in March 1991 in Visakhapatnam .
Second Skripal suspect was decorated by Putin: Bellingcat
Investigative group Bellingcat on Tuesday said the second suspect in the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was decorated as a hero by President Vladimir Putin in 2014. The site on Monday said the man, who used the alias "Alexander Petrov", was in fact Alexander Mishkin, a trained military doctor employed by Moscow's GRU military intelligence service.
Pak's top anti-graft body summons son of PML-N chief Shehbaz Sharif
Pakistan's top anti-graft body has summoned Salman Shahbaz, son of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Shehbaz Sharif, on Wednesday in a case pertaining to accumulation of assets beyond the known sources of income. Shehbaz has already been in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore till October 16 in a physical remand in the Rs 1,400 crore Ashiyana housing scam case. The NAB on Monday issued summons to Salman to appear before a joint investigation team on Wednesday in a complaint regarding building assets beyond his known sources of income. Salman is managing the business affairs of the Shehbaz family. The NAB arrested Shehbaz on Friday last for allegedly awarding the contract of the housing project to a favourite firm after cancelling the contact of the successful bidder. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has alleged that Shehbaz was arrested at the behest of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said NAB's action against the Sharif family members is a political ...
Centre unlikely to release additional funds to Delhi civic bodies
The central government is unlikely to release additional funds to the municipal corporations of Delhi "at this stage" in view of the current statutory provisions and overall fiscal resources, officials said Tuesday. This comes a day after the Supreme Court said it was "unfortunate and tragic" that the Centre was not prepared to "make any payment at all" to resolve the crisis arising out of the strike by sanitation workers of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) over the demand for regular payment of salaries. A Home Ministry official cited the "failure" of the Arvind Kejriwal Government to implement the report of 4th Delhi Finance Commission (DFC) relating to allocation of funds by the Delhi government to the city's five local bodies including EDMC. The 4th DFC, which submitted its report in 2013, had recommended additional funding of Rs 1,220 crore to the three municipal bodies -- East, West and South Delhi -- from the Delhi government, of which the majority share of Rs 1,140 ...
Modi unveils Chhotu Ram's statue, lauds his fight for farmers' cause
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday unveiled a statue of Sir Chhotu Ram in Rohtak district of Haryana and lauded his progressive thinking and relentless work for securing the rights of the poor and farmers.
Mumbai and Maharashtra belong to all: MPCC chief Chavan
The Congress said Tuesday Mumbai and Maharashtra belong to all, but some people were trying to create Marathi and non-Marathi divide in the society. The party's assertion came in the wake of Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam's comments that the financial capital will come to a standstill and its people will not even get food to eat if the north Indian community in the metropolis decides to stop working. Asked about Nirupam's comments, which drew sharp reactions from the Shiv Sena and the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Ashok Chavan said Mumbai and Maharashtra belong to all communities. "Mumbai and Maharashtra belong to all. Some people are trying to create Marathi and non-Marathi divide in the society," he said, without taking anyone's name. Nirupam made the controversial statements while speaking at an event of north Indians in Nagpur Sunday. Chavan was speaking to reporters at Sinnar enroute to Sangamner in Nashik ...
Decision to hold LS by-polls in Karnataka in tune with R P Act, 1951: EC
The Election Commission Tuesday said its decision to hold by-polls to three Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka is in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1951, as the poll body face questions over the need for the exercise when general elections are due early next year. The Commission issued the clarification in the wake of media reports questioning why it had not announced the by-elections to fill five Lok Sabha vacancies from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, as had been done for Karnataka. It said vacancies from Bellary (ST), Shimoga and Mandya constituencies of Karnataka occurred on May 18 and May 21, 2018 respectively, whereas vacancies from the five parliamentary constituencies from Andhra Pradesh occurred on June 20. The Commission said Section 151 A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 mandates it to fill the casual vacancies in the Houses of Parliament and state legislatures through bye elections within six months from the date of occurrence of the ...
HC reserves order on DMK plea against TN CM over graft charges
The vigilance agency in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday informed the Madras High Court that no cognisable offence had been made out against Chief Minister K Palaniswami in a complaint lodged by opposition DMK alleging corruption in award of road contracts. State Advocate General (AG) Vijay Narayan made the submission on behalf of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) before Justice A D Jagadish Chandira, who later reserved his order on a petition by the DMK over the issue. The DMK, represented by its organising secretary R S Bharathi, MP, has alleged irregularities and corruption in award of road contracts. It has accused Palaniswami of abusing his power and allotting projects worth Rs 3,500 crore to his relatives and 'benamis'. Originally, the petitioner wanted the court to direct the DVAC to conduct a preliminary inquiry and register an FIR on its complaint submitted in June this year. Later, he had moved an additional plea seeking transfer of the probe to an independent ...
China concerned about US drill during Xi's Philippine visit
A Philippine official says China has raised concerns about a joint U.S.-Philippine military exercise that coincides with Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the country in November. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque says Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua raised the concern in a meeting Monday with President Rodrigo Duterte, who assured the Chinese envoy that the Philippines would not take part in the military maneuvers. Roque did not elaborate Tuesday on what particular drill China was concerned about. Roque said: "The general consensus was we don't want anything to mar the visit of President Xi." Philippine military officials, however, say they're unaware of any US military exercise with Filipino forces next month.
'BJP govt in Gujarat failed to stop exodus of migrant workers'
: AIMIM President and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin OwaisiTuesday accused the BJP government in Gujarat of failing to stop the "exodus" of Hindi-speaking migrant workers from that state and said it is has a responsibility to ensure their safety. "The atmosphere in Gujarat...the entire responsibility lies on the BJP government in that state. It should have been their (BJP government) responsibility to see to it that North Indians should have been given confidence. They should have spoken to them and stopped them (from migrating) and made arrangements for their security," Owaisi told reporters here. But it was 'visbily clear' that the BJP government had failed to maintain law and order in that state, he alleged, adding "you can see an exodus of North Indians from that state...arguably, it is the failure of BJP and their governance". Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister (Yogi Adityanath) and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who support NDA, should go to Gujarat where thousands are ...
China to give 48 high-end drones to Pakistan
China will give 48 high-end drones to its close ally Pakistan, a deal, which experts say, could be the biggest of its kind.
Govt to commemorate 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year
The 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the first Sikh Guru and founder of the faith, will be commemorated by the government next year with events across the globe, Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said Tuesday. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. "There will be special programmes in the country as well as in different parts of the world to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji," Sharma told reporters after the meeting. The government has already decided to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev as 'universal brotherhood year' and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations will hold special functions worldwide through Indian missions. The National Implementation Committee (NIC), headed by the home minister, also decided to commemorate the centenary of Jalliwanwala Bagh massacre, 200th birth anniversary of Satguru Ram Singh and birth anniversary of 'Rajmata' Vijaya Raje Scindia ..
Poll panel raise objection to transfers of teachers, officials in Rajasthan in poll code violation
The Election Commission has raised objection to the transfers of teachers and booth-level officers in Rajasthan after the model code of conduct for the December 7 assembly election came into force. Rajasthan Chief Electoral Officer Anand Kumar told reporters he had written to the chief secretary apprising him that any transfer effected after the poll code came into force would not be accepted. The state government had reportedly effected backdated transfers of some teachers, principals and booth-level officers in the past two days. "Those who have not taken charge before the model code came into force will not be able to join (in their new posts)," the chief electoral officer said. Kumar also said that a copy of the letter written to the chief secretary had been sent to district collectors. The model code came into force with the announcement of the assembly poll schedule by the Election Commission on October 6.
Key Madhesi party threatens to withdraw support to PM Oli's govt in Nepal
The Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, a key Madhesi party which has been demanding amendments to Nepal's Constitution, has threatened to withdraw its support to Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli-led government. The RJP-N leaders, who presented a memorandum to Prime Minister Oli on Monday, warned that if the government failed to address their demands, the party would withdraw its support to his government after Diwali. RJP-N has asked the government to initiate the process of amendment to the Constitution to address the demands of Madhesi, Tharu, Muslims and Janajatis. "This is our last warning and if the government turns its deaf ear, we will launch fresh agitation after the festivals by withdrawing support to the government," said Rajendra Mahato, member of the Presidium of the RJP- N. "The government is not listening to our demands and is also trying to avoid the amendments to the Constitution," said Mahato, the former commerce minister. The adoption of a new Constitution in 2015 that ...
BJP alone can ensure Telangana's development: Muralidhar Rao
BJP alone can accelerate the pace of development in Telangana so that it catches up with the rest of the country, senior party leader P Muralidhar Rao said Tuesday. BJP Amit Shah would address a public meeting at Karimnagar and also speak to booth committee presidents and other party leaders Wednesday to boost the party's prospects in the December 7 Assembly polls in the state, Rao told reporters here. "All have got opportunity in the history of Andhra and Telangana so far. If the pace of development is to be accelerated in Telangana, the way it is happening in the country, only Bharatiya Janata Party can do it," the BJP general secretary said. BJP considers Telangana as an important region for the future from its strategy point of view, he added. The ruling TRS in Telangana has failed to ensure development during the last four-and-half years and the main opposition Congress has also failed as it did elsewhere in the country, he claimed. BJP has decided to go it alone ..
Strategic Policy Group reconstituted, Ajit Doval is Chairman
The Strategic Policy Group (SPG), formed to assist the National Security Council (NSC), has been reconstituted with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval as its chief to strategize on matters dealing with internal and economic security.
Gujarat wants to play key role in shaping a new India, says state govt official
Gujarat now wants to play a key role in shaping a New India, by providing international companies, investors and healthcare providers with a platform to enter the huge Indian market, a top state government official has said. Sharing his experience of interaction at various level in the US, Gujarat Additional Chief Secretary Arvind Agarwal said "there is a very great interest in 'Ayushman Bharat' - the India's health-care insurance scheme. "Gujarat now wants to play a key role in shaping a New India, by providing international companies, investors and health-care providers with a platform in the State to enter the huge Indian market," he told PTI in an interview. This was the key selling point of the high-powered delegation, which Agarwal led ahead of the next years Vibrant Gujarat summit. The delegation met the US' influential corporate sector, government officials, diaspora, think tanks and academics during their recently concluded two-week multi-city roadshow. "When vibrant Gujarat .